Hyderabad blasts: Explosive were laced with splinters

The miscreants had a recipe to unleash terror on Hyderabad. A combination of aluminium, ammonium nitrate and splinters were all put together to cause maximum damage in a crowded commercial cluster at Disukhnagar on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway.

The miscreants had a recipe to unleash terror on Hyderabad. A combination of aluminium, ammonium nitrate and splinters were all put together to cause maximum damage in a crowded commercial cluster at Disukhnagar on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway.

According to sources, the forensic report on examination of the evidence gathered from the twin-blast site at Disukhnagar has indicated that the improvised explosive device (IED) had a coating of aluminium with ammonium nitrate stuffed in it. A copper wire was used to ignite the device through a timer. In order to maximize the impact of the blast, the terror groups had laced the explosive with splinters. Though there are reports that the splinters were in the form of nails, which would penetrate the bodies of the victims only to kill them, there is also a view that there were steel balls in the explosive. Sources, could not provide more specifics.

It was at about 7 pm on Thursday, two bombs took off in the busy commercial cluster of Dilsukhnagar killing 16 people and injuring more than 120 people. Dilsukhnagar has always been on the radar of the terror groups due to the demographics and the density of population.

Meanwhile, the investigators have stumbled upon a clue of sorts in the form of a person hailing from old city of Hyderabad. The person identified as Abdul Wahed was injured during the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar and getting treated at a private hospital in Hyderabad. According to sources, he was also among the injured during the bomb blast at Mecca Masjid in 2007.

Though for now the investigators would believe that the person getting injured in two bomb blasts as a mere coincidence, the “suspect” has been put through several rounds of questioning. The sources have cautioned that it would be jumping the gun to completely suspect the person.

However, three different teams of the police have carried out separate investigations on this person. Interestingly, it is said that there is no similarity in the information that was gathered from the person, his family members and an independent survey of other acquaintances of the person.

The investigators turned suspicious with the person suffering injuries on his back while most of the victims have injuries on their faces or the frontal parts of the body. The officials are refusing to comment on the person at this point. “He is the resident of Kalapathar in Old City. However, he could not give any details on his presence in Dilsukhnagar except saying he was having tea when the blast took place,” the source said.

The NIA and the state police are still looking for concrete leads to take the case further since the focus even on Day Two of the blast was more on the victims. By Friday evening eight of the deceased were identified and the bodies were handed over to the family members.

At the mortuary, there were stories of people promising to return home either to go out for shopping or to a cinema and falling dead on the Dilsukhnagar road. There were students, small traders and employees among the deceased. According to sources, there are still some bodies awaiting identification as there were no immediate IDs on them.

Most of those identified were done so based on the IDs available in their pockets. With several of them getting defaced due to the impact of the blasts, the unidentified bodies are being preserved at the mortuaries.